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1 Peter 1:3 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

The gift of the new birth leads to three spiritual realities.

First, it leads into a living hope (1:3). To live life hopefully is a characteristic of the people of God. Rather than allowing circumstances or conditions to determine our direction, we follow a living hope that transcends the everyday affairs of life and is focused on the eternal. It is as easy to extinguish a living hope as it is to stop spring of water; it continually grows and increases. But what makes this hope more than just wishful thinking? It is the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is why the early Christians were so insistent that Jesus Christ did in fact arise from the dead. The teaching of Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 on the resurrection reflects the belief and teaching of the early Church: If Christ has not been raised from the dead, the entire Christian faith is centered on a falsehood. And as Paul wrote the church at Corinth, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:19).^[1]

Grudem, 1 Peter, p. 56. For “the resurrection of Christ from the dead secures for his people both new resurrection bodies and new spiritual life. Christians do not in this age receive new bodies but God does grant, on the basis of Jesus’ resurrection, renewed spirits.”—David A. Case and David W. Holdren, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude: A Commentary for Bible Students (Indianapolis, IN: Wesleyan Publishing House, 2006), 288.

Tomorrow we will deal with the second and spiritual reality.

By David A. Case and David W. Holdren